A blend of historic railroad attractions helps recreate a 1970s commuter train for A Man Called Otto, the latest feature film starring Tom Hanks.

Emboldened by new state tax credits and a strong filmmaking community, Pennsylvania has seen a steady increase in film and television productions – and with them have come a special set of creative challenges. In late 2021, producers for A Man Called Otto knew they needed to solve one problem very early on: they needed trains. 

While trains had played a different role in the original Swedish book and subsequent film Man Called Ove (2015), the new American adaptation featured only vestiges of the railroad element, but in a more romantic backdrop.

“The train work in this picture helps form the narrative heart of the movie, but we knew it would be very challenging to serve our specific creative ambitions while remaining both on budget and on schedule,” explains John Adkins, locations manager for the movie. “We told our local contacts in Pittsburgh that we needed a ‘train guru’ and they knew just the right person to make it work.”

Linked by the technical expertise of railroad consulting firm FMW Solutions and its movie train coordinator Kelly Lynch, the equipment and locations of the Potomac Eagle Scenic Railway, Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad, and Washington DC Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society were sourced to appear in two flashback sequences.

With his lifelong connection to the railroad world, Lynch’s film pursuits began at NBC/Universal in 2005 and have since led to a number of awards for his screenwriting, creative, and commercial work. After bringing his expertise to FMW Solutions in 2021, Lynch’s help on an Amazon television series in Pittsburgh led to the recommendation for Otto.

“Sourcing equipment that would fit the look and feel for Otto was the easiest part, but threading the needle of getting the locomotive and passenger cars where they needed to be is why we were hired,” explained Lynch. “While the original desire was to film platform exteriors at Pittsburgh Union Station and moving train work on a nearby regional railroad, the short lead time, proximity to a busy freight and passenger mainline, and other logistical limitations meant we had to explore a number of alternatives.”

Loosely inspired by the Mon Valley Commuter Rail system that served the Pittsburgh region in the 1970s, an FP-9A locomotive from Potomac Eagle and former MARC and Pennsylvania Railroad commuter cars fit the bill.

After leading a series of technical and director scouts, filming took place over three days, at three different locations. The first was a day of exterior aerial work in Romney, West Virginia featuring the Potomac Eagle’s characteristic diesel locomotive and stainless steel passenger cars, which looked visually similar to the MARC cars. A few weeks later, filming resumed in May for interior scenes aboard the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad’s passenger train set in the Cuyahoga National Park.

“During the busy tourist season, hosting a film production can be a big task, but we’re grateful to the National Park Service for helping us welcome the production to the Valley,” said Joe Mazur, President of the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad. “Our crews really enjoyed it and it created a lot of buzz for us in the community.”

For the moving train work, the production modified a former Budd Rail Diesel Car, chosen for its spartan interior to reflect the state of passenger rail in the 1970s, and operated between Jaite and Rockside, Ohio.  

“Every movie train is special, though generally, productions want either steam locomotives or modern freight or passenger trains,” added Lynch. “This is an era of passenger rail rarely seen on film. In some cases, car interiors were rejected because they were restored and looked too nice.”

In the interim, the Potomac Eagle locomotive ventured to Toledo where it would meet two former MARC commuter cars shipped in from the Cuyahoga Valley where they’d been leased for seasonal events. Lynch escorted both shipments as they moved en route over CSX, and the equipment arrived a week before production began.

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“For the Potomac Eagle, shipping one their primary locomotives out ahead of their regular season was not an easy decision, but we were fortunate to have CSX railroad crews in Cumberland, Maryland, Walbridge, Ohio, and at CSX Community Affairs to make sure this equipment would make it to and from its engagement in Toledo without issue,” detailed Lynch.

Amid pre-production, Toledo’s art-deco Central Union Terminal had been an early favorite of director Marc Forster and production designer Barbara Ling.

“The station and period trains were a perfect match,” said Louise Rosner, executive producer.

“Once we confirmed the Toledo Port Authority owned the platforms and actual trackage, we knew we had three tracks and 4,000 feet of the railroad to operate on without encumbering the nearby mainline or disrupting Amtrak’s passenger operations,” Lynch stated.

“The local Norfolk Southern crews were critical to ensuring the production could select Toledo as a location, as they worked with us to ship, switch, and position the equipment so that our teams could take over,” said Lynch. “Their level of responsive customer service was not only impressive but a great relief.”

In coordination with the Port Authority, Norfolk Southern, and Amtrak, Lynch isolated the platforms, imported station props from a nearby railroad museum, and conducted safety briefings with a cast of over 160 performers. The third day of railroad work on the production would also be the final day of principal photography.

“Even in a tightly controlled operating environment, this many people on a platform with a moving train represents safety concerns. During our production briefing, we taught everyone the signal to ‘stop,’ for instance if they saw someone trip, fall, or otherwise saw something that was unsafe. Everyone knew what our whistle signals meant in terms of train movement and direction and we had flagmen to protect performers,” explained Lynch.

Overall, the production brought a six-figure boost to the local economies in Brecksville and Toledo as a cast and crew of 300 descended on Ohio, and equipment returned without issue.

“The train work went off perfectly,” added Rosner. 

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Ultimately, the movie train work makes up approximately five minutes of total screen time, but the additional layer of authenticity and practical sets are a departure from a trend towards artificial sets or digital imagery. Of course, it also means the railroad entities involved were compensated too. 

“Tourist railroads and museums are great assets that can usually be very accommodating within reason,” Lynch furthered. “We filmed a drone scout for the aerial film crew on a Friday so the director could pick out locations, and less than a day later we were on board the passenger train to travel to the spots that had been selected, and then filmed until we ran out of daylight. Even for cost-conscious shows, there’s still a lot that’s very achievable and can be accomplished safely, quickly, and creatively.”

“With trains, you have all the complications of props, locations, safety, stunts, vintage vehicles, and more rolled up into one. FMW not only helped all of us wrap our heads around what was achievable, but they went out and made it possible,” explained Adkins.

FMW Solutions was also assisted by Mid America Railcar, Carload Express, Mad River & NKP Railroad Museum, Horizon Rail, Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society, McRail Insurance, Brian Smith, and Chris Homco.

“It really means a lot to marry two remarkably complex industries,” said Lynch. “But it’s also immensely satisfying to call up our network of partners and connect the dots together for a project like this. Railroad magic and movie magic really aren’t that much different from one another.”

A Man Called Otto is now available on streaming. 

Movie Trains and "Train Wranglers" help filmmakers bring the railroad industry to life with authenticity, accuracy and above all – safety

Written By Kelly Lynch, Director of Special Projects | Railroad Technical Consultant & Coordinator

In recent years, the infusion of railroad culture and imagery to the motion picture industry has visibly increased, as historic steam locomotives, passenger cars, stations, and more have woven their way onto the screen for films like 3:10 to Yuma, There Will Be Blood, Indiana Jones, Leathernecks, Appaloosa, Reservation Road, and of course the AMC television series Hell on Wheels. The railroad – or at least a reasonable facsimile of one – was the main character in the runaway train action film Unstoppable and in Disney’s The Lone Ranger, where full-size steam locomotive replicas, a 1:1 scale model railroad, and a five-mile loop were constructed to become the centerpiece for a number of sequences.

In an industry where a digital artist can recreate entire worlds from nothing, filmmakers are finding it easier and more satisfying to rely on the “movie train.”

Milwaukee Road No. 261’s brief cameo in Public Enemies. Shot on Metra’s commuter platforms in Chicago’s Union Station, the locomotive is accompanied by former Montreal commuter cars painted in Pullman green which were staged at camera left and right to block out modern surroundings. Universal Pictures.

THE REBIRTH OF THE MOVIE TRAIN

In the Golden Age of Hollywood, many motion picture back lots corralled their own stable of railroad equipment for use, but today when productions require railroad elements, they turn directly to museums, short lines, or tourist railroad operators, or call upon a small group of insiders known as railroad coordinators, or train wranglers, who specialize in liaison work between the two industries.

“It’s a niche vocation now since the studios disbanded their equipment and their knowledgeable personnel,” explains railroad coordinator Stan Garner, a now-retired industry veteran who helped orchestrate the railroad scenes for 3:10 to Yuma and There Will Be Blood.

“Now you have people that want to use the train and they don’t know the first thing about them. Class 1’s don’t have the time to deal with studios and museums normally don’t have any idea. Having someone with experience on both sides goes a long way.”

J. David Conrad of the Valley Railroad in Essex, Connecticut explains that railroad coordinators “understand both sides of the equation. They are the liaison to make things authentic, but to understand the wants and needs of everyone involved.”

Often the wrangler will work with every department of the production and in tandem with railroad personnel, with special focus on budget, production, and equipment needs. “I spend more time doing that than I do on set,” jokes Garner.

Like railroading, film can be filled with a variety of challenging unknowns, he explains. “You can’t turn the production company loose. You have to be ready for anything to happen because if a director changes his mind, the weather might. Plan for every contingency.”

Garner and his crew survived a sudden 38-inch snowfall the night before the climactic shootout and subsequent arrival of the title train in 3:10 that delayed filming for over a week.

HBO repurposed one of The Lone Ranger locomotive props for scenes in Westworld. These million-dollar props leave a little to be desired for purists, and cost almost as much as a historic steam locomotive restoration – but they are easily transportable, cost-effective solutions for productions in the Western-genre. HBO Television.

NOT ALWAYS A DOCUMENTARY

The inclusion of historic rail equipment into a film’s period setting seems like a perfectly fitted glove, but that isn’t always the case.

“Museums need to know that something may be one way historically, but it can have nothing to do with what things need to look like for the film,” asserts Conrad.

In addition to wrangling the necessary equipment, railroad coordinators are there to help present filmmakers with the available options, information and research available to help tell their story and help achieve a particular look, a feel, and a vision. While some creative choices may cause purists or railroad forums to object, ultimately they are deliberate choices being made in service of the narrative.

The relationship between filmmaker and railroader/preservationist can be tenuous for this reason, but Conrad offers that the two trades are not all that dissimilar, “It’s hard work to create a vision and authenticity will give way to art, which for some in railroading can be hard to appreciate, but many are surprised at how much work goes into creating a few seconds of film, just like many on the film side have very little understanding of the craftsmanship required on this side to keep up steam.”

For instance, history advocates decried the grungy, weathered look of the locomotive props created for Hell on Wheels, but the production intentionally set out to create a rough-and-tumble, lived-in world where few things looked as good as the proudly gleaming, spit-and-polished real-life and traditionally spotless steam engine Jupiter. In other words, the historically appropriate look would have not fit the established production and art design.

Constructed largely from styrofoam and wood and powered by a railcar mover, the Hell on Wheels props did their part, but to anyone who has spent time around a real steam locomotive, it’s obviously missing some of the dynamic presence, movement, and weight of the real thing, and whereas a real locomotive would exhaust powerful vapor plumes from its smokestack, these props only emit lazy wafts into the frame – hardly the stuff Henry David Thoreau would write home about. For an expensive television series constantly on the move, the props were a cost-effective solution – and this approach also meant that no historic 1800s locomotive would be subjected to arduous television service for years on end and the production could easily relocate their section of track from location to location. Nevertheless, the sound design of Hell on Wheels was delightfully full of a near-constant swooning bellow of locomotive whistles and steam exhaust even when the props were off-screen – another way railroad preservationists can ensure the real things can still bring life to a film set, even if only via sound effects.

Railroad film work is full of spectacle – but can be as hazardous and logistically challenging as stunt work.

CREATING A CULTURE OF SAFETY ONBOARD – AND ON SET

The gap of misunderstanding between filmmakers and railroaders is one that must be covered quickly, especially where safety is concerned. This stark reality was highlighted in the tragic death of camera assistant Sarah Jones during the attempted filming of Midnight Rider in 2014.

Jones, a tireless and talented crew member, was killed by debris when the film crew trespassed on an active, Class 1 railroad line, and a freight train crashed through their illegal attempt to stage a scene. The incident, which also injured other crew members, invigorated calls for a renewed safety culture and revised practices within the film industry, but it is not the only fatality as a result of filmmakers, vloggers, and photographers “stealing” a shot on railroad property without permission or supervision from industry professionals.

In addition to senselessly exposing artists and crew members to unnecessary dangers, incidents like these also have the onerous distinction of placing the railroad industry in a tremendously negative light and increasing the likelihood that railroad entities will not participate in film or television production and have undue effects on the costs of liability insurance for motion picture companies. In the case of Midnight Rider, the production company, the director, the railroad, and even the adjoining property owners were all part of an intense and lengthy lawsuit. The director was sentenced to two years in prison and fined $20,000.

Scenes with operating railroad equipment are no different than stunts or action sequences. Because of this, railroad coordinators will work with the production’s safety director to inform them of the unique dangers inherent with railroading, and safety meetings should be held regarding different camera setups and scenes.

Garner’s method on There Will Be Blood afforded all departments a blue flag for whenever they worked on the train, “They knew the train would not move unless their department’s blue flag was taken down.”

“Make it so you are contractually obligated to stop or alter a scene only if it’s unsafe,” informs Nick Kallas of the Illinois Railway Museum.

Photographers, marketing agencies, and film shoots are frequently looking for industrial or historical settings, and railroad museums and tourist operations can easily fit the bill – but the productions must be coordinated and supervised by professionals who understand both worlds.

GETTING THE SHOT – AND PROTECTING THE ASSETS

Kallas’ experience ranges from the simple on-site shoot to moving entire train sets across the mainline to meet a production’s needs. He maintains that the safety of your personnel and the equipment are top priorities, as is ensuring the contract favors your operation.

“Protect yourself and don’t get starry-eyed,” he warns, recalling that after the filming of Flags Of Our Fathers, a Louisville & Nashville diner which had been dressed as a Boston and Maine passenger car, was damaged when a contractor tried to remove vinyl appliqués with a hairdryer on a cold day. $25,000 later the entire car was repainted at the studio’s expense.

FOR WHEN HOLLYWOOD COMES CALLING

While the Illinois Railway Museum and other operations like California’s Filmore & Western Railway are known entities to the industry, a location scout or production company can’t locate a railroad organization if they don’t know it exists. Museums and railroads open to this line of work should contact their state film office to make sure they’re listed as a resource or location.

As productions seek out states with tax incentives and multiple resources to offset costs, a studio may already be looking for opportunities in your backyard. List on your website and brochure that your equipment or operation are available for film work and designate a member of your staff to handle these inquiries, which oftentimes may require non-disclosure agreements and next-to-little information at first. “Everybody involved is important, and everyone wants to be a part of the movie, but that’s not always possible,” reminds Kallas.

As a part of that reality check, it’s also important to keep in mind that, paradoxically, railroad work and film work also tend to have a lot in common: they both feature long wait times, brief flurries of action, and generally unglamorous, thankless work, but when the action gets going, things really come together. A crew may wait in the wings for hours before a take gets underway, endure repeated technical rehearsals, alternate takes and set ups, endless runbys – all for a few feet (or gigabytes) of usable, precisely coordinated footage, some of which may not even make its way into the fine cut of the production. It’s a common misconception that filmmaking is easy work – and anyone who has spent a day on set will tell you it can be arduous.

While Conrad suggests that movies don’t necessarily mean increased exposure and visitors, he does believe that their appearance in Indiana Jones elevated the operation in the eyes of the community.

“There’s a better appreciation in the area for the railroad and people were impressed that the reason Steven Spielberg was here was for the Valley Railroad. It built up a lot of camaraderie for us.” But it’s not just mechanical performance or good feelings that keep the wheels rolling. We had over $50,000 in the bank that wasn’t there the year before.”

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FMW Solutions is an experienced Railroad Transportation Coordinator and Technical Consultant for TV and Film Productions. For help on sourcing a movie train and coordinating the right railroad equipment for your production or for assistance working with a production company interested in using your equipment, contact FMW Solutions.

Director of Special Projects Kelly Lynch is an accomplished rail-industry consultant, steam locomotive preservationist, and filmmaker. Portions of this article originally appeared in Trains Magazine.